A Cherished Hope
by Sapphire09
Summary: Even though Naruto managed to prevent Sasuke from leaving, he is filled with doubts and insecurities. He begins to afraid that his other friends will leave too. So now... what should he do to regain his believe back?
1. 1: The Trust Which Was Lost

It's raining.

The sky is grey and dark, but a ray of light is shining down to the blonde's face. The other boy with dark hair only stands there, staring down, as if contemplating his decision. He looks down to him with that emotionless expression.

To kill him, or let him live.

He then suddenly felt the pain from his right shoulder. He gripped his shoulder as he fell down to his knees and closed his eyes in pain. When he opened them, his unconscious face was only inches away from his own.

It would be very easy to kill him now. Just one stab on his chest, straight to his heart, and the ultimate eye would be his. Just like what his brother had said to him.

The thought of gaining the power the same way as his brother suddenly sickens him. So, he decided to leave, and go that Snake. He wobbly stands up, still gripping his painful shoulder, before turning away, to the direction of Orochimaru's lair, into the depth of the opposite forest.

He took the first step. He barely cared about his numbing shoulder anymore.

He took the second step. His feet felt so heavy to move.

However, before he managed to get a third step, he felt a hand gripped his other shoulder, forced him to stop and turn. He then felt pain from the back of his neck.

The last thing he saw before darkness consumed him was a lone, angry eye of an onyx orb.

**

* * *

A Cherished Hope**_  
by Sapphire09

* * *

_

_All of my memories_

_Keep you near_

_In silent moments_

_Imagine you'd be here_

_All of my memories_

_Keep you near_

_The silent whispers, silent tears_

— Within Temptation; Memories

**

* * *

I. **_The__ Trust Which Was Lost  


* * *

_

Blue eyes slowly opened as the owner regains his consciousness. The first thing he saw is a white ceiling.

"Finally decided to wake up, Gaki?" he heard a voice came from the direction of his window. He raised his eyebrows upon seeing his white-haired teacher sitting at the windowsill.

"Ero-sennin?" he said weakly. He then lifted his body and tried to take a sitting position. He then realized that almost his entire body is covered with bandages.

"Where am I…?" he muttered, before his brain finally registered what has happened. He then turned to Jiraiya, so fast that it's a wonder his neck didn't break.

"Sasuke! Sasuke, he—"

"Calm down, Gaki. He's still in Konoha," Jiraiya said in attempt to calm the panicked blond. Naruto's face then scrunched in confusion.

"N-Nani? D-Demo… (W-What? B-But…) I couldn't beat him!" Naruto asked again, still in confusion.

"Well, after he beat you, Kakashi came silently and quickly made him unconscious and brought him back here. He woke up around three days ago, though. Right now, he's in the middle of doing his punishment; house arrest for a few months and momentarily has his ninja status stripped off. Kakashi is now his personal watcher, so I don't think your team will have any team meetings soon," Jiraiya explained.

Naruto then smiled softly, but a little sad. "Sou ka (Is that so)?" he merely said before he looks away. Silence then washed over them.

"How's the rest of the retrieval team?" he asked again.

"They're fine though wounded. The Sand Siblings came to help. Temari helped Shikamaru, Kankurou to Kiba, and Gaara to Lee. The only ones who were in critical condition were Chouji and Neji, but it was nothing Tsunade couldn't handle."

Naruto sighed in relief. "That's good," he said before it's silent again.

"Sakura came yesterday," Jiraiya said again, disrupting the silence. Naruto then turned to him again in interest.

"She said she'll come here again around—," knocking then could be heard, "—now."

Naruto hurriedly back to behind the blanket, pretending to be asleep. Jiraiya raised his eyebrows in confusion, but when he noticed Naruto's unsure eyes, he let it slide. It seems even the boy himself doesn't know why he felt the need to hide.

Hearing no reply, Sakura opened the door and invites herself into the room. In her hand there's a stem of white lily. Jiraiya then greeted her.

"Has he woken up yet?" she asked. Jiraiya nodded. "He has, but it seems he was very tired, so he fell asleep again," Jiraiya said. Sakura then stares at Naruto's sleeping figure before her eyes softened.

"I see…," she said before she walks closer to him and switch the flower inside the glass pot on the table besides the bed. She stared at him for a while before he turned to Jiraiya, who is still sitting at the window.

"Jiraiya-sama," she starts. "Please… Please tell him that I really thank him for bringing Sasuke back. He may have lost, but at least he managed to slow him down until Kakashi finally came. Unlike me…," she trailed. She looks down in regret.

"I can't even hold him for some chuunin to come, and he was still in the village…," she muttered. "I always has been the one who stands in the back and watch. I always am a burden in the team, but…." She then looks up again.

"I'll improve… I won't be someone useless the next time something like this happens. Next time… He will be the one who will watch me. Next time, he will have me to help him," she said with determined expression. "Next time… he can count on me to save him. I love Sasuke, but for me, Naruto is also a very important friend."

Jiraiya widened his eyes in surprise, but then he smiled.

"Yeah… I'll tell him that," he said as he nodded. Sakura also nodded before sparing one last look to Naruto and leave the room.

"I don't think I'll need to, though," he muttered after Sakura is out.

Jiraiya then turned to the sleeping figure. "Why didn't you respond?" he asked. Naruto is still silent, unmoving. His head is turned away from Jiraiya, so he can't see his face.

"Ero-sennin…," Naruto started. Jiraiya frowned at the nickname, but he let Naruto continue.

"What do you think will happen if she knew what's inside me?"

Jiraiya was startled at the sudden serious question. He then sees Naruto's head shifted a bit to him.

"What will happen, if everyone knew?" he asked again. His voice was weak and defeated, on the contrary to his usual spirited, cheerful voice.

Jiraiya frowned. "Gaki…," he started. "They're your friends! Even if they knew, they won't leave you just like that. Just have faith in them!" he scolded. He then saw Naruto shifted and now the blond is sitting on his bed with his head turned to him. His eyes are narrowed, but also confused and weren't focused on him. His hands are gripping the sheet.

"How do you know that?" he asked. "How do you know that! If there's anything I truly learnt is the fact that we can't know how exactly what's inside a human heart!" he said again more harshly.

Jiraiya then realized that he is shaking. His eyes then softened.

"Is this about Sasuke's betrayal, Naruto?" From how he flinched, Jiraiya realized he's right. Naruto's head then bowed down, hiding his eyes beneath his bangs.

"I thought I knew him… I thought I understand him… But, in truth…," his grip on the sheet tightens then. "I know nothing at all," he spat bitterly. Jiraiya then sighed before all went silent.

"It hurts, isn't it?" Jiraiya said. "That pain… It was so suffocating and managed to make you close your heart, wasn't it?" he said full of understanding as he stared at the sky.

Naruto stayed still, before he nodded slowly. He then put his arm around his knees and sits on a fetal position. "What should I do now, Ero-sennin? I really wished to trust him again… To believe him again, but…," he trailed off. His voice is muffled by the blanket around him and also the fact he buried his head in his knees, but Jiraiya still heard him clearly.

"Now, I can't even see my friends the same way I used to see them. Now, I'm haunted by the thought of them leaving me too," he said at last. "Especially once they knew what's inside me…"

Jiraiya then turned to him again. "They still accept Sasuke. Why won't they accept you?"

"It was because he was a comrade, a fellow ninja of Konoha," Naruto muttered, repeating what Shikamaru had said before their retrieval mission. Jiraiya's eyes then narrowed.

"And you weren't?"

Naruto then glanced to him with unsure eyes. "I never was, Jiraiya," he said before he bowed his head down again. "All they know is Uzumaki Naruto, the resident prankster and a dead-last, not Uzumaki Naruto, the vessel of the greatest demon which destroyed the village 12 years ago. It was the dead-last 'Naruto' that they thought as a comrade, not me."

Jiraiya then flopped down from the windowsill and moved near the bed. "If they are your friend, they won't abandon you, Gaki!" he said strictly. He does not like the way his pupil is thinking.

"What if they weren't? What if it was only me who thought them as my friends?" he said again. Jiraiya's eyes narrowed then.

"One betrayal and you decided not to trust anyone again?" he asked. "Did you even listen to what you have said?"

Jiraiya received no answer. He stared at his pupil in sadness. It was one betrayal, but it was also a betrayal that wounded him to the core. Jiraiya knew that, but he hated to think that the usually energetic and optimistic boy could actually think like that.

"If… If Kakashi didn't arrive on time, what would you do?"

Naruto turned his head slightly to Jiraiya then. Even though his face is facing him, his eyes weren't. They were pinned to the blanket in his grip.

"I'll chase him, even to the depths of hell itself."

"Why?" Jiraiya asked. "He betrayed you."

"Because…," he started, "I have a promise to Sakura that I'll bring him back, no matter what."

Jiraiya frowned then. Before he got the chance say anything, Naruto continued.

"I'll be able to focus in bringing him back instead of thinking how my friends will react once they knew the Kyuubi."

Jiraiya realized the implication of those words. He realized that it might be true. Naruto, he knew, wasn't as mindless as everyone made him to be. Naruto, once given time and something to think of, he can think of it and various outcomes of that something, and imprint the best outcome in his mind. In this case, had Sasuke gotten away, he'll put it in his mind that he have to get stronger and find him quickly, since it is the best possible outcome, instead of waiting inside the village.

He'll be able to put aside all the thought of what his friends might think, since his mind would only be filled with the thought of Sasuke.

But, Sasuke didn't get away, and he's now in Konoha. It makes Naruto thinking of things he never thought of before.

Before, he strived to be Hokage, to be accepted. Before, he tried everything to make people notice him, acknowledge him. And after he became a ninja, people started to acknowledge him, notice him. Soon, he gained people who he can call _friends_.

And _best friends_.

The dream of becoming Hokage now is no longer to gain acknowledgement, but to protect those that he cared about. But then, everything went downhill. The best friend, the one that he thought accepted him for all he is, betrayed him for _power_.

What is power, anyway? Why is it so important?

How can he believe that none of his friends will betray him again because of the same reason?

_Power._

'_Power… It was also the same reason of why Orochimaru did what he did…'_ Jiraiya thought.

"Would you like to go, then? Away from Konoha?" Jiraiya proposed silently. That received the blonde's attention as he saw his figure shifted.

"I was planning to take you on a training trip, anyway. Tsunade already gave her permission. All we have to do is to report and have one last check on your condition. After that, we're free to go," Jiraiya said as a slight smile adorned his face.

When he finished, Naruto is already staring at him wide-eyed. "When?" Naruto asked.

"Whenever you're ready," Jiraiya answered. Naruto soon out from his bed and standing on his feet.

"Can we go now, then?" he asked hopefully. Jiraiya nodded.

"I'll meet you at the gate," Jiraiya said simply.

Naruto then took his jacket from the wardrobe inside the room and wears it before he jumped from the window to the rooftops, jumping to his apartment, leaving Jiraiya to himself. Jiraiya then sighed.

"Better tell Tsunade-hime soon," he muttered as he also jumped through the window. But, unlike Naruto, he took the regular road and walk in more leisure pace.

"I wonder if she'll beat me up when she hear this…"

* * *

Back at his apartment, Naruto is packing up some necessities for the trip, putting everything inside his backpack. He brought some clothes, all of his ninja utensils, and some other personal things.

Suddenly, his eyes darted toward the dresser not too far from him. He opened the bottom drawer and pulled something from inside it. In his hand, he is holding a picture, Polaroid picture, and a pair of blue hairclip.

It was a picture of a woman with short, bleached blonde hair, and beside her is a girl with chestnut-colored hair, no older than 7. He looked at the picture with a longing stare.

He neatly folded it to four parts before putting the picture and the clip inside his orange jacket and continued his previous activity. Just when he's packing up his last thing, he accidently knock a table and then a sound of glass breaking can be heard. Startled, he turned to the source, to see a frame on the floor with glass scattered near it.

He stops his activity and takes the broken frame. In it, there's a picture of his team, Team 7. His eyes then softened, before he peels the picture out from the frame and neatly put it inside his backpack. He turns to the window after he wore the backpack and jumped out of the building.

In the middle of his way, he passed the Ninja Academy, and saw Iruka from behind the window. He then decided to stop by, to say a goodbye, at least.

Iruka, Tsunade, and Jiraiya, are the only group of people he can truly trust now.

He then knocks the window twice. Iruka then turned to him. A look of surprise was apparent on his face when he saw Naruto, with bandages all over him.

It seemed he forgot to take them off back in his apartment.

"Naruto!" he exclaimed before he opens the window.

"Hi, Iruka-sensei." Naruto grinned before he jumps in to the classroom. Iruka then stood aside, letting him pass through the window. Iruka went back to his desk and continue his work while Naruto went to the seat at the front row, in front of Iruka's desk. A comfortable silence washed over them. All that can be heard in the room is the sound of pencil against the desk.

It has been a while since they were together like this.

"I've heard about Sasuke," Iruka suddenly said, breaking the silence. Naruto turned to him then. He already expected Iruka to know, so it wasn't a surprise. "I presume that your injuries have something to do with that," Iruka said again.

"Yeah, you're right," Naruto said sheepishly as he rubbed the back of his head. Iruka suddenly put his pencil down and fold his arms in front of his chest, staring at the blond. The said blond suddenly felt intimidated under Iruka's gaze, which felt like he was seeing through his soul.

"Tell me Naruto," he said. "Are you planning to leave?" he asked. It seems he realized the backpack behind Naruto's back. Naruto hesitated, but he nodded anyway.

"Yeah, Ero-sennin asked me to go for a training trip. It won't be too long, but not short either, I guess. Maybe for a year or two… maybe even three years," Naruto replied. He tried to make his tone sounded enthusiastic, but it came out in a forced voice. Iruka seemed to notice that, since he looks down to his work again.

"I'm here only to say goodbye…," Naruto continued with calmer voice. He looks down, since he's afraid to see those eyes again. "I'll be leaving after this, so…"

"Naruto."

Iruka suddenly called him, cutting him off. He looks up to see Iruka gazing at him sadly.

"Do you still believe in me?" Iruka asked suddenly. Naruto nodded slowly, but surely. Iruka smiled softly. "Why?" he asked again.

"Because you believed me," Naruto answered equally. "You've seen the worst of me, anyway. So… if you still believed me after all that… if you still believed me even when you knew what's inside me… How could I not trust you?"

"I see…," Iruka said. "Then, why is it different with your friends? Why can't you trust them?" he asked again. Naruto didn't answer right away, but still, he answered.

"They don't know about it yet, Iruka-sensei," he said. "If Sasuke, whom I thought understood me the most, can still leave me, how can I be sure that the rest won't leave me too once they knew?"

"Are you sure they'll do that?" Iruka asked back. Naruto stayed silent.

"You do know that they'll help you and risk their lives for you, right?" Iruka pushed again. Naruto bit his lips then, as his eyes closed.

"But, it was because they don't know me as the host of Kyuubi," he retorted. He knew that his friends would help and really cared for him but…

Iruka then sighed and bowed his head down.

"Your training trip… Will you ever come back?" Iruka asked. Naruto slightly shakes his head. "I… honestly don't know," he answered with all honesty. "I… don't want to be here for a while… So, I don't know. I may, or may not come back… I don't have anything else to come to, anyway," he said bitterly.

"Then, how about if you come back to me?" Iruka suddenly said. Naruto looks at him with an expression of surprise on his face. Iruka then lifted his face and stared at him.

"I'll wait for you here. When you get back, I'll treat you dinner then. I promise, so you must come back, Naruto," Iruka said as he showed him a smile, a true, yet a sad smile.

Slowly, Naruto's gaped mouth turned to a soft smile. His smile then turned to a full blown grin.

"As long as you'll treat me, I'll be sure to come back! I'll see you then, Iruka-sensei!"

With that, he leaves a relieved Iruka behind as he jumped out the window again towards the gate. Iruka is the one and only person he has said good bye to, except Tsunade, who was waiting for him at the gate together with Jiraiya, before he left the village for unknown time.

But, he'll come back… As long as Iruka is inside the village, he will.

No matter how long it takes.

**

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~|To Be Continued|~

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**

**Sapphire09: **I'm back with a new story! This story has been hanging in my comp. far too long, so I decided to revise this and upload this!

And I decided to do this when none of my stories are finished yet! wow, how irresponsible, right?~

*sulk*

Anyway, I was planning this as a crossover with a totally different kind of manga from Naruto, Fruits Basket! (I know, I know. It'll turn out weird... Sheesh, I made this right after I finished reading Fruits Basket, so BAM! The draft was born...

That was then, but now I wanted your opinion. Should I cross this with Fruits Basket, or should I not? There will be a few possibilities...

If I cross this:

1.) Naruto will end up in the Sohma's house. How? Which one? Main House? Shigure's House? It's for me to know and you to read out.

2.) None of the character in Fruits Basket shall know about the Ninja World (except for the select few, and I mean select _few_). Why? Because it's a Ninja World, 'nuff said.

3.) There will be no cross pairing! The most that perhaps and may, happen, are friendship and family (or family-ish) bond.

4.) Should I mention more, there will be no need for you to read it...

If I don't cross this:

1.) I'm thinking of OCs.

2.) I'm thinking of a village free of ninja.

3.) I'm thinking of character's (no, not Naruto) death.

4.) I'm thinking of... your ideas.

So, please... The next chapter will depend on your choice, readers! You can vote in your reviews and through my profile. I'll count both, and I'll use the one with most voters. (i.e. in the profile poll, total voter were 10 and in reviews were 9, I'll use the result in the profile poll)

See you next time!


	2. 2: Here I Can Feel, Away I Can Heal

_I… had never thought about things this way. _

_I never, not even once, thought about the reality where my friends will stand up against me. I thought that… Friends wouldn't be that way._

_I thought… it was natural for friends to stood up together with me, through everything there is._

_But now… _he _opened my eyes for the possibility. _

_I realize there is a dark secret that I had kept within me, out of their reach. A secret that might make me lose every bond I have now. _

_But, I never thought about it before. I was so pitifully ignorant about that… It never crosses my mind._

_Ever._

_But then _he_ did what he did and changed it._

_Now… I don't know what to do, now that I'm aware it._

_I can't ignore it again, not after I knew._

_Why can't he just kill me back then? That way, I won't be tortured like this…._

_Do I really have to believe that I had no friends from the beginning, just to make all the doubts within me gone?_

_Well… I guess it is a much better choice rather than doubting my friends like this…_

_Urgh… This is so frustrating, 'ttebayo…_

**

* * *

A Cherished Hope**_  
by Sapphire09

* * *

_

_I hold my breath as this life starts to take its toll_

_I hide behind a smile as this perfect plan unfolds_

_But oh, God, I feel I've been lied to_

_Lost all faith in the things I have achieved_

— Evanescence; Away From Me

* * *

**II. **_Here I Can Feel, Away I Can Heal_

* * *

Sweat pouring down from his head to his face. His bare torso is also glistened under the sun. His black charcoal eyes narrowed as his foot went up for a kick and his fist flying for a punch. The poor tree got beaten up quite badly.

"That's enough for today, Sasuke," someone said. He then turned to the voice as he relaxed.

"Kakashi," he said in acknowledgement. Kakashi then walks closer to him.

"Sakura is coming over. Go have a shower. You don't smell really good now," Kakashi said as a matter of fact as he held out a towel.

Sasuke took the towel without a word and went inside the house. He rubbed the sweat on his face with the towel on his way to the bathroom.

As he took a shower, his mind wanders to the day when he woke up.

**-FLASHBACK-**

_He woke up to see white. At first he wondered where he was, and he hoped that Orochimaru's men took him to the snake's hideout when he was unconscious. But, when his mind registered the familiarity, he realized he is still in Konoha. _

_He let out a soft groan._

"_I was wondering when you'll wake up," he heard someone said. It seems the speaker isn't far from him. True enough, when he turned to his left, he found Kakashi sitting on a chair beside him while reading that little book of his._

"_Kakashi," he said with venom. His eyes narrowed dangerously as he straightened up._

"_You have to let me go! I need power to defeat him and that man can give me the power I—!" _

_His sentence stopped midway when he found his sight moving without his regard and his neck jerked suddenly. He then felt a stinging and burning feeling on his right cheek. He noticed it as pain._

_Only after a while that he realized Kakashi had _slapped_ him, with his _book_._

"_W-Wha?"_

"_For a genius, you sure are stupid, Sasuke," Kakashi said in a serious tone. His only visible eye, for once, not bored. It was serious. He knows he was not meant to argue now._

"_Tell me, Sasuke," he asked. "Why do you hate Itachi so much?"_

_He unconsciously gripped the sheet of his bed in a tight hold once he heard the name Itachi. "Because… because of him, I lose all people who I cared! Who are important to me… He killed father, mother… Everyone! He…," he answered angrily._

"_Is that all?"_

_Sasuke then looks at his sensei in disbelief. "'Is that all'? What do you mean by 'is that all'? I thought you understand the feeling of losing all things that are precious to you!"_

"_I do," Kakashi said understandingly. But then, his visible eye narrowed. "What I can't understand is why did you turn yourself into something so similar to the one that you hate so much?"_

_That sentence makes his blood boil._

"_I'M NOT LIKE HIM!" he yelled in rage as he stared at the masked jounin with hate. Kakashi stared back with an indifferent look._

"_Are you sure?"_

_He flinched under Kakashi's gaze, but still he refused to be seen under the same category as the man he hated most._

"_I'm not like him," he repeated with a softer tone, but still there is rage inside the words he had spoken. _

"_What difference that separates you from him?"_

"_I didn't kill my own family," Sasuke growled lowly._

"_But you will." That caught Sasuke off-guard._

"_W-wha?"_

"_You wanted to kill Itachi. You _will_ kill your brother. Isn't he a family?"_

"_Was!" Sasuke deadpanned._

"_Still he _is_ your brother. There are no such things as ex-brother, or ex-family. Your bond with him is as thick as the blood running through your veins," Kakashi said with clarity. Sasuke's growl deepened then._

"_THAT'S DIFFERENT! I DO NOT THINK OF HIM AS A FAMILY!"_

"_And he didn't think of his family as family when he killed them, did he?"_

_Sasuke was silenced after that. Knowing that he is winning this argument, Kakashi continued._

"_You were about to betray Konoha, just like what he did. You were about to join the dark side, just like him. Now, tell me… What's the difference?"_

_Sasuke was cornered. He didn't know what to say. Even so, he still thinks that what he did was justified. He needed power, no matter what the cost, or how he gets it. It seemed Kakashi knew this, so he spoke again._

"_At first, I wanted you to forget about revenge, but now I know it's not possible," he said. Sasuke narrowed his eyes then. Ignoring his look, Kakashi continued, "So, I won't ask you to forget it. Hate all you want, but just don't drag your teammates with you, Sasuke. Don't bring Konoha together with you."_

_Sasuke then furrowed his eyebrows in confusion. Even though he saw that, Kakashi refused to explain more. Sasuke then glared._

"_Don't make me regret teaching Chidori to you, Sasuke. Because the one that will regret it won't only be me, but you will as well."_

_The anger burned inside him as Kakashi said those words. He couldn't accept the way he had said those words._

"_Regret?" Sasuke scoffed, "I don't think I will, Kakashi. I'll never regret it. And, if you don't want me to drag Konoha down with me, shouldn't you just let me leave in the first place? That will save you all the trouble." _

_Kakashi narrowed his eyes in displeasure. He didn't remember the last time he had been so… mad._

"_You really are a second 'Itachi'."_

"_What!" Sasuke growled angrily. Kakashi only narrowed his eyes again in an intimidating way, however Sasuke noticed there were also grief and sorrow in those eyes._

"_No, you're even less than Itachi. Though he is evil, but he still has meaning in his life, even as one of the greatest criminal Konoha had ever produced," Kakashi growled deeply from his throat. Sasuke then mustered his nastiest glare as he gritted his teeth in anger._

"_But you… You're nothing. Without your hate, your life means nothing. Without your grudge, you'll be… nothing, as you won't become anything at all."_

"_YOU—!"_

_Before Sasuke could say more, Kakashi pinned him to the wall behind him, choking him._

_Those words that Kakashi spoke really hit him, as he growled even deeper like a threatened dog. Kakashi, however, heartlessly continued his speech, releasing all his anger and disappointment to him. _

"_You always said that you are an avenger, but in truth, you become one because you can't be anything else. You won't admit it, but you've hated for so long, you know that once you lose it, your life will be empty, meaningless. Your life has already been shaped by hatred, and by so you won't be anything once your hatred dissolved," Kakashi growled out as he tightened his grip. His tone gets lower in every word that flowed out from his lips._

"_You were pathetic, and now you're even less than pathetic. You're pitiful."_

("Foolish little brother. If you wish to kill me, hate me, detest me, and survive in an unsightly way. Run, run and cling to life. And one day, when you have the same eyes as I do, come before me.")

"_You are weak."_

("Why are you weak? Because you lack ... hatred.")

"_So now just cling pitifully to your precious hatred and live your meaningless existence. As you know, people who had lived their live solely based on hatred have their life blinded by illusion one call 'meaning', when in reality, what they have been doing are all meaningless and short, no matter how long it felt. Those people are only a waste for this world, a trash. And you are one of them."_

_In all his life, Sasuke never felt this angry, this livid. All, every word that Kakashi has said, hits him straight in the bull's eye. All of them, he knew, all true. Long ago he already realized this, yet he denied this because, like Kakashi had said, without hate, he won't have anything in his life anymore. _

_He never had the confidence that he'll be able to be strong without his hate._

_It was so true, it irritated him beyond anything._

"_-t up…," he muttered inaudibly, still with Kakashi arm pinning him. Sasuke then pushed the arm away with every bit of his power before he screamed in heated anger._

"_SHUT UP!"_

_Facing his outburst and anger, Kakashi merely narrowed his visible eye mockingly. _

"_What do you know, huh! You've said you understand, but in the end, you know nothing!" Sasuke yelled heatedly, his eyes glaring red. Again, Kakashi looked at him with a scornful stare._

"_Then can you prove me wrong?" he said simply. "Can you prove it to me? Can you really prove that there's some meaning in your life besides vengeance? Or… Was I right in saying that you became an avenger, because you couldn't be anything else?"_

_Sasuke was trembling because of the intense anger. So intense, he felt his Cursed Seal acting up. Kakashi can see how boiled he is, so he decided to end it. He moved closer to Sasuke, and stared him right in his eyes with his own Sharingan._

"_Hatred, revenge… all of them destroys and nothing will be born from it. Not even happiness, moreover strength," he said, before he let out a sigh._

"_Believe what you wanted to believe. But, let me tell you one thing; as a Hokage, Yondaime-sama didn't have any bloodline like the Uchiha, or the Hyuuga, nor he has the genius mind of the Nara, yet he managed to be a Hokage, the youngest one and the greatest one, in fact. Do you know why?_

_Anger is still boiling inside Sasuke, but still he listened out of curiosity._

"_It was because he fights to protect," came Kakashi's answer. Sasuke then furrowed his eyebrows in confusion._

"_It's always easy to kill someone. A single hit at the right spot is enough to end one's life. You don't even have to be that strong to do it. Even something as simple as a poison can do it. But, keeping someone alive… isn't that easy. You're supposed to know that the best."_

_Sasuke realized what Kakashi is hinting at. Even without him continuing it, Sasuke already knew, all too clearly. Kakashi knew this, and knew that going farther than this is only pushing things, so he backed up and turned to the door. His lone Sharingan eye was still red even when he stopped in front of the door and gave Sasuke his last sentences._

"_Now go and see yourself in the mirror. Think about everything that I've just said and then tell me what you see. I'll come again later," and with that, Kakashi was gone._

_After the door clicked shut, Sasuke was left alone in the silent room, filled with the sickening smell of medicines. The silence made his eyes unconsciously darted to a mirror across the room, with his Sharingan blazing red. _

_He saw his reflection staring back at him. But, in his mind's eye, he saw his brother staring back at him._

_Even after he destroyed the mirror, the face of his brother still haunts him in his mind, and on the broken mirror still he saw his brother._

"_I knew it already… I knew it all along…_

_But I can't forsake my hatred… I can't… _

_because it is my hatred that makes me who I am."_

**-FLASHBACK END-**

The sound of rapid knocking on his bathroom door startled him away from his memory. He jerked his head in surprise before he heard a familiar feminine voice yelling from the other side of the door.

"Sasuke! Just how much time do you need to take a simple shower!"

It was Sakura.

"Get out now or I'll knock this door down!" she yelled—or more likely, ordered. Sasuke soon turn off the faucet of his shower and quickly grabbed a towel before he tied it around his waist. When he stepped out of the bathroom, he soon found himself staring a pair of annoyed emerald-green orbs.

"What took you so long?" Sakura chided, which was ignored by Sasuke for the sake of getting into his room and put on his clothes.

After he was dressed, he opened the door of his room, only to find an annoyed Sakura standing there with her both hands at her hips.

Honestly, Sasuke was a bit surprised at her straight-forwardness.

"You're taking too long! What if Naruto woke up and ran away from hospital, while you're taking all your sweet time in that shower, huh!" chided Sakura again. Sasuke couldn't remember when the last time she nagged him like that.

Oh wait. She never nagged him. This was the first time.

"Ho? I thought you went there this morning?" Kakashi asked as he suddenly appeared from Sakura's behind.

"Well, I did. But I could only talk to Jiraiya. He said Naruto already regained consciousness, but then he went to sleep again. Can't blame him, though. He needed the rest," Sakura answered fondly, Sasuke noticed.

"But, it has been some time since then. I think Naruto should be up right now," Sakura said again with a smile. Before he knew it, Sasuke found himself dragged by Sakura to the hospital, while Kakashi watched his despair.

"Must I go too?" he asked to Sakura, who glared after she heard his question.

"Of course! You need to apologize to him!" Sakura said as a matter of fact—and harshly. Sasuke returned her glare with his own glare, yet Sakura defiantly refused to back down.

"Maa, Sasuke," Kakashi said, "It's better than sitting around doing nothing, right?"

Right after he said that, a bird flew around the sky on top of them. Kakashi noticed it as an order to gather from the Hokage.

"I wonder what happened…" Kakashi muttered out before he turned to his pupils and told them about the order.

"It seemed Hokage issued the gathering for us, Team 7. Sasuke included," Kakashi explained. He noticed how Sasuke looked confused, and the worried look on Sakura's face.

"Then, Naruto?" Sakura asked. Kakashi don't have any answer, so he answered by lifting both of his shoulder. Considering how Naruto fared, he doubted that he would come, or even summoned.

"We should go to the Hokage Tower now. We shouldn't make Hokage-sama wait."

* * *

Tsunade stared down at the empty sake bottle in her hand as her other hand propped under her chin with her elbow as the holder. She swung the empty bottle left and right in slow motion as she recalled the event just a few hours ago.

**-FLASHBACK-**

"_Tsunade-hime, can the time limit for the training be extended?"_

_The question brought Tsunade to stare at Jiraiya in confusion and curiosity._

"_Extend the time limit? Why?"_

_Tsunade stared at her old teammate in confusion as she listened to his reason. She knew she needed to hear it, especially since she noticed how somber he had looked._

"_Naruto—that child needed more time," Jiraiya said softly, "A year seemed too short for him. It won't be enough for him to heal."_

"_Heal?"_

_She knew that he wasn't talking about his physical wounds, but his mental wounds._

_Tsunade already knew that Naruto will never be the same after Sasuke's betrayal. The wound was too deep and she was sure it will leave a deep scar in his mind. But, she didn't think that it would be this deep._

"_What did he say, Jiraiya?"_

_Her teammate hesitated for a second, Tsunade noticed, but still he answered._

"_He said he can't make the thought of his friends will someday leave him out of his mind. He was haunted by those thought," Jiraiya answered silently. Tsunade merely nodded then. She already saw that coming. She then let out a small, sad smile._

"_It seems like no matter how great of a medic I am, broken heart and death are still far out of my reach," she muttered solemnly as she buried her face beneath her intertwined hands. She then let out a soft sigh before she barely lifted her head._

"_I'll work it out, Jiraiya. Just try not to make it longer than three years. Please."_

**-FLASHBACK END-**

Not long after that, she and Jiraiya went to wait for Naruto at the gate. She noticed how solemn he had looked back then, even though he seemed to be more cheered up. She had never seen him so sad. Even his goodbye was awkward and he also flinched when she was about to reach him. So, she had to settle for a wave.

He was broken to pieces, even though he tried to hide it. And Tsunade knew it.

Now, there is only one job left for her to do for today. She wished she could get over it and be done with it soon. Announcing Naruto's departure will be her last job before she could go back to her other routines, which she looked forward to for now.

Her wish was granted by the form of knocking. She knew that it was those that she had summoned; the members of Team 7.

"Come in."

**

* * *

~|To Be Continued|~

* * *

**

**Sapphire09: **So, how is it?

I'm don't really like the Sasuke part, but ehh...

I may going to change it later though... If I feel like to...

Meh.

On to another topic, the poll is still up, guys! You still have time to vote, so vote up! You can vote either in reviews or in my profile, so please :)

Anyway, please tell me what you think!


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